Imagine summer in the Verde Valley before it was inhabited by towns and villages. 
Visualize traveling for weeks or months in a covered wagon across the Southwest seeking a suitable place to begin a new life. In our search for the most agreeable environment, we may look for a an ample amount of shade each day where there is a nearby stream or river. We travel around from mesa to mesa, peering down among the canyons while looking for that one particular shade of green; just the color of willow. Finding the willow during the summer months assures us that we have come upon a dependable water source that will stay with us, during the hottest months of the year. Survival is the message of the sacred willow. The soft willow that grows along the creek, has much to tell us about healing too. The wood when newly harvested, is easily bent and formed. It grows in moist heavy wet soil. Leaves and bark contain the salicylic acid that is used in aspirin. American Indians discovered the value of making tea from the bark to reduce fever and pain and induce sweating. The stems are used for basket making.
Willow is also harvested and used by indigenous people in the construction of ceremonial sweat lodges. The wood is bent in a semicircular fashion to form what is called, the “ribs” of the structure. Sweat lodges are traditionally placed very near the banks of the river, where participants are able to submerge themselves and be refreshed after the ceremony. Spiritual leaders teach those attending sweat lodges to respect and honor every gift provided by Creation and to use it wisely and conservatively. We are required to harvest only as much as we need and not to waste any of the natural resources so generously provided by the natural world. We are also encouraged to meditate outdoors in wilderness areas, on the beauty and greatness of all things.
Fear & Wisdom
When we are able to find that precious time in our busy schedules, to enjoy the gentle tranquility of silent reflection along the shores of the creek, we will begin to heal. The most destructive force against maintaining the health of our body, mind and spirit is the stress, nervousness and anxiety that we often encounter from the media and from competing for success and survival in our ever evolving and changing lifestyles. Anxiety emerges from over a hundred forms of fear, continuously present in us as we face life on life’s terms. There is a free and constantly available solution that we often forget about when it seems that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Rarely do we take the time to realize that something we fear or resent is usually the culprit of our time mismanagement. Perhaps it is fear of financial insecurity or a frightened reaction to physical or emotional pain or other problem or resentment that motivates a constant state of motion without respite. These small fears and resentments can gather together to create large blocks of stress-filled anxiety as we continually strive to reach our own expectations that we have unconsciously placed on ourselves. In regards to fear, “This short word somehow touches every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition-pg. 67) Perhaps we will do better to take a lesson from the gentle willow.
Breathing and Healing
The willow lives a life dependent on it’s flexibility. It bends and moves under the stress of the most powerful monsoonal winds and in the face of the freezing winter nights and scorching summer days. It’s endurance comes from it’s ever present ability to adapt to constant change. If the branches of the willow become ridged and inflexible, they break off dead. Are we occasionally rigidly inflexible about the challenges and wounds we all encounter? Most of us can answer yes to this in various areas of our lives. Have our fears and resentments influenced our thoughts and actions and convinced us that we have no time for the healing provided by a small recess of time in the natural world?
The greatest survival source our bodies use all the time is our breathing. We don’t even have to think about it most of the time. Imagine if we were to actually nurture each breath with relaxation and peaceful thoughts and allow the anxiety to be replaced by a greater appreciation of Creation. We can imagine breathing in the wisdom and flexibility of the sacred willow and exhaling the toxins of conflict and confusion. Do we have time for a nice deep breath or two? Maybe we can even find five minutes or even fifteen minutes alone in the holy land watching the willow move with the gentle breezes of Beaver Creek.
